When you open a Power BI file (.pbix or .pbit) in the RapidDox desktop app, you can generate documentation straight away — or choose to customise it depending on your needs through a four-step flow. This page documents every option in each step.
See What Gets Extracted for what each section contains and Sample Output Coverage for a full output walkthrough.
Step 1 — Background information
Provide the metadata that prints on the cover page and inside headers/footers.
| Field | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Company Name | Prints on the cover page and in the document header. |
| Logo | Upload an image (max 2 cm × 6 cm in the output). |
| Description | Free-text "Background" paragraph included near the top of the document. |
| Requested by | Person or team who asked for the documentation. |
| Developed by | Person or team who built the Power BI report. |
| Requested Date / Completed Date | Dates printed on the cover page. |
| Audience | Intended readers of the documentation. |
Step 2 — Page images
RapidDox uses Power BI page thumbnails by default. To replace them with higher-resolution images:
- Import a PDF file with HQ images — pick a PDF (typically an export of the same report from Power BI Desktop) and RapidDox extracts the page-by-page images at full resolution.
- Export to PPT — exports the current image set to PowerPoint for manual editing.
- Assign images to Pages — map each imported image to a specific Power BI page.
Step 3 — Customise documentation layout
Every section in the output is listed in groups. Each section has a drag handle to reorder it and a checkbox to include or exclude it.
Background Information
- Include/Exclude — show or hide the entire Background page.
General Information (12 sections)
- Summary Stats
- Data Sources
- Power Queries
- Data Model Diagram
- Table Relationships
- Tables and Columns
- Calculated Columns
- Measures
- Data Transformations
- File Relationships
- List of Report Objects & Visuals Used
- Report Level Filter(s)
Pages (5 per-page sub-sections)
Sub-sections that appear under each report page in the document:
- Summary Stats
- Relationships Chart
- List of Visuals Used
- Data Sources
- Filters
Visuals (5 per-visual sub-sections)
Sub-sections that appear under each visual in the document:
- Summary Stats
- Filters
- Columns
- Measures
- Data Sources
Bookmarks (3 per-bookmark sub-sections)
- Summary Stats
- List of Visuals Used
- Filters
Layout Options (still on Step 3)
- Include Header — when on, the header text field is used on every page.
- Include Footer — bottom-of-page footer text.
- Include Center Footer — additional centred footer line.
Step 4 — Export
Pick one of five output formats:
| Format | Best for |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Word (.docx) | Editing or re-branding in any word processor. |
| Portable Document (PDF) | Sharing, print, email. |
| Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) | Section-by-section tables for analysis. |
| Web HTML | Publishing to an intranet or cloud. |
| CSV | Importing the metadata into other tools. |
Working with Tableau files instead? See Customise — Tableau Workbook & Data Sourceor Customise — Tableau Prep.